Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

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Well, I've really gone and done it this time. What have I done, you ask? I've gotten myself addicted to Star Wars. (bangs head against desk) And right in the middle of NaNoWriMo too. Crap.

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Angel in Disguise

3. Roxas: Emotions

When I first met Axel that day in the hospital, I hated him. But at the same time I was curious. He felt so familiar to me. It was almost as if I had met him before then.

Now I know why he seemed familiar. It was because I heard Kairi complain about him before. She had met him at summer camp and had to work with him.

At first I just ignored Axel and walked across the room to talk to Sora and see how he was feeling. I barely got halfway across the room before Axel spoke.

"Who's the gorgeous angel who's here visiting you, Sora?"

I stopped in my tracks and looked at him in shock. I could feel myself turning some shade of red. "M-me?" I squeaked.

I couldn't comprehend why a complete stranger - and a guy no less - would say something like that. I mean, what normal person goes and says something like that?

Of course, Axel wasn't exactly what you would call "normal". No, he was more of the "anti-normal" kind of guy.

"Don't mind him, Roxas." Sora told me. "That's just Axel talk for, 'Hey there sexy, lets make babies.'"

I choked and my mind ground to a halt. Part of me couldn't believe that Sora - my baby brother - said something like that. The other part of me was cursing out Riku for corrupting Sora.

I kid.

The other part of my mind wasn't functioning correctly. My thoughts were little more than a jumbled mess of words and stray ideas. I think the one stray thought that crossed my mind the most was, 'Only Sora, after only a half hour of knowing someone, could joke and kid around with that person as if he'd known them forever.'

"Ha, ha, very funny." I remember hearing Axel say. "Although," I didn't have to look at Axel's face to know he was smirking. "I wouldn't really mind…"

That was it. I couldn't handle any more of it. Before I realized what I was doing, I was moving across the room and fleeing out the door. I vaguely remember bumping into Riku and apologizing for it, which was something I normally wouldn't have done.

Hell, normally I wouldn't have even run out the door like that. To this day I still don't know why I bolted like that. Maybe it was because of everything else that had happened with Sora breaking his leg. Maybe it was just because of Axel. I honestly don't know.

I soon found myself outside leaning against the side of the building. I ignored all of the stares and sad looks people kept giving me and just looked down at the ground and tried to sort out my thoughts.

So Sora's roommate was a strange redhead who flirted with me. Was it really worth freaking out over? Was it really that weird? I mean, I was used to almost all of the girls, and some guys, at school flirting with me, so that wasn't the reason I ran.

Why do emotions have to be so complicated? They do nothing but get you in trouble!

But then… if we didn't have feelings then we'd be so different than, oh say, a rock. Although both Naminé and Lulu insist that rocks have feelings too, which is ridiculous. I think they were just messing with Sora and Tidus. It's a rock! It's made up of pieces of dirt and leaves and stuff that have hardened (or melted and then cooled) over thousands of years!

Anyway…

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice that Naminé was right beside me until she tapped me on the arm and said my name. I looked at her, startled, and when I looked into her eyes I was instantly calmed.

The only way I can explain the way Naminé's presence comforts me is like this: it's like drinking a hot cup of cocoa on a cold day. You can literally feel the warmth travel down your body and leave a tingling sensation behind.

I don't know what I would have done without Naminé. She's my rock; my anchor. She keeps me from doing stupid crap and she has always been able to cheer me up by doing little more than just being with me.

It's her gift.

"Roxas, are you alright?" She asked me, concerned. "Sora's worried about you. Axel is too, I think."

I flinched at Axel's name and Naminé must have noticed because she sighed and hugged me. She wrapped her arms around me and stepped forward and laid her head on my chest. She hadn't done that in years and in that moment I marveled over how much taller I was than her. We used to be the same height.

"Don't mind, Axel. He's practically harmless." She told me, her voice soft. "He may be a big flirt, but he's a nice guy once you get to know him." She pulled away and gave me a comforting smiled. "Ready to come back inside?"

I shook my head. "Not yet." I told her. "I need a few more minutes."

Naminé nodded and leaned up against the wall beside me. She understood. She always understood.

Just like I told Naminé, I was ready to go back inside a few minutes later. I wasn't exactly ready to face Axel. Actually, I really wanted to run home and crawl into bed and wish that the whole day was just a dream. But I couldn't for two reasons:

Number one, that was my baby brother in there with the broken leg. Number two, if it wasn't a dream then I would never hear the end of it from Riku. He would tease me until the day he'd die. Maybe even longer since, if I know Riku, he'll somehow manage to piss me off in the afterlife too.

Sora beamed when he saw me. "Roxas, come sign my cast!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Look! Even Axel signed!"

When I got closer I saw Axel's name written in thick, looping cursive handwriting that I would soon become familiar with. I tore my eyes away from the bright red lettering that practically glowed against the neon green and took the dark blue pen that Sora offered me.

"I don't see the point of this." I said as I uncapped the pen. "I'm your brother. What do you need my signature on your cast for?"

"Just sign the damn cast, Roxas." Riku said grumpily.

He must have found out first hand how "friendly" Axel could be. And by "friendly" I mean "flirty". Judging by how grumpy Riku was, Axel had been flirting with Sora.

That pissed me off.

Scowling, I signed Sora's cast and then handed the blue pen back to him. "Dad's going to be picking you up soon." I told him. "Who's going to ride back to the house with you?"

"Riku is." Sora said.

Part of me was disappointed that it wasn't me who Sora chose. On the other hand, having Riku go with Sora gave me the chance to walk with Kairi and Naminé. I also had to go back to the beach to get our bikes. I hoped that Naminé would be able to ride one of them.

Our dad arrived a half hour later and he and Riku helped Sora out to the car. Kairi and Naminé followed to help in any way they could, but I stayed behind for a few minutes.

Why? Because Axel asked me to.

I know how stupid that sounds. Why did I stay behind to talk to a complete stranger just because he asked me to? I knew that Kairi didn't like him and neither did Riku, although I could have cared less what he thought. The thing was, Sora liked him and so did Naminé and I could usually trust Naminé's judgment. Sora tends to trust too many people, so I wanted to make sure that Axel was a good guy in case he and Sora had somehow managed to exchange phone numbers. I was very protective of Sora.

"Roxas, I want you to have something." Axel told me. "C'mere real quick."

I hesitated and then walked over to his bedside. I never even noticed how frail he looked laying there in that bed.

"I get out of here in a day or two." He told me as he scrawled something down on a piece of paper. "And I'll need some excuse to get the hell out of that house and get some fresh air." He held out the scrap of paper expectantly, and I gingerly took it.

I looked at the looping cursive of him name and the tidy numbers and then looked him in the eyes. "What's this for?" I asked, trying not to sound too curious.

"It's my phone number, got it memorized?" He asked, tapping the side of his head. "Make sure you ask for me. I live with a few people and usually one of then gets to the phone before I do."

I nodded stiffly and stuffed the paper in my pocket. I left the room without promising to call.

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Somehow I found myself pushing the bikes through town with Kairi and Naminé. It was just my luck to end up with the two on a day that they felt like shopping. I was really lucky that Selphie wasn't with us.

"Roxas, lets go in there!" Naminé said, tugging on my sleeve.

When I looked at the store she was pointing at and saw all the statues and stuffed toys in the window I flat out refused. There was no way I was going to be caught dead in that store.

Five minutes later I was in the store with Naminé and Kairi and was listening to them squeal over the stuffed toys. There was only reason why I was in that store and it was because those two knew my weakness.

They knew that if they gave me a pleading look and added in a whimpered, "Please Roxy?" that I would melt like ice cream on a hot summer day and let them do whatever they wanted. It was all because of their eyes; Kairi's unwavering, gorgeous violet and Naminé's piercingly beautiful, calm blue. (They made me write that, by the way.)

"Roxas, isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Naminé asked me, holding up a fluffy white tiger stuffed toy.

I shifted uncomfortably. "Uh… sure, Naminé." I said unsurely. Then I ducked behind a shelf, hoping they wouldn't ask me anything else. Luckily, I was able to spend the next ten minutes browsing in peace. There were a few things that caught my attention, like the station where you could have custom objects made for you. I spent a few minutes poking around to see what they made and then I moved on.

Naminé and Kairi found me looking at the shelf of model car kits and practically dragged me out of the store with their little plastic shopping bags dangling off their arms.

"Lets go see how Sora's doing." Kairi suggested as she pulled her bike away from the wall of the shop. "Naminé and I have something to give him. We got something for you and Riku too."

I looked at them in surprise. I had seen some of the prices of stuff in there and some of it was pretty expensive. Somehow I just knew they went and spent a lot on us. They always did that.

"You didn't have to get me anything." I told them.

"Don't be silly, Roxas." Kairi said. "We wanted to."

Naminé nodded. "Yeah. We saw it and we knew it was made for you. You'll see." She gave me a wink and hopped up on Sora's bike. "Race you guys!" She yelled as she took off.

"Cheater!" Kairi yelled as she threw her leg over her bike and tore after Naminé.

I watched them go for a second, surprised by how fast they were going. Then I grinned and hopped up on my bike and took off after them. I was easily able to overcome them and laughed the whole way home as they yelled funny insults at me.

I skidded into the grass at my house and vaulted off my bike before making a beeline for the front door. Somehow, Kairi and Naminé caught up to me as I was unlocking and opening the door. The two tackled me and the three of us fell through the doorway, laughing.

We slowly detangled ourselves, still laughing, and then we ran up the stairs to check on Riku and Sora. Kairi managed to get ahead of me when Naminé stumbled and grabbed my arm, so she ran into Sora's room first.

The first things I heard when I ran into the room was Sora's yell of, "Presents!" and Kairi's laugh.

"It's just one present, Sora." Naminé said. "And we got Riku and Roxas something too."

Kairi fished through her bag and pulled out two things wrapped in tissue paper. She handed the white one to Sora and the dark blue one to Riku. Naminé handed me one in red tissue paper.

I carefully unwrapped it, unsure if the object inside was breakable or not.

When I saw what it was, my mind flashed immediately to Axel. The red and silver reminded me of him for some reason.

It was a large, ornate metal key with spiked circles. It looked like it could cause a lot of damage if it were to hit someone.

"It's called 'Bond of Flames.'" Naminé told me softly.

'Bond of Flames.' The name rolled through my head and was accompanied by a figure holding a huge version of it that was covered in flames.

I shivered. What did that mean? Why did the key feel so familiar to me? Why did I think of Axel when I first saw it?

I wouldn't find out any of that until later.

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End Chapter

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Dun dun dunnnnnn...

I so totally love writing in Roxas's POV, have I mentioned that? Yes? Okay, then I'll shut up about it.